Filmed on Silent Standard 8mm film by former British civil service officer, Ian Urquhart in Baram District, 4th Division, Sarawak, Malaysia, 1954-1965. Restored and digitised at 24fps. Ian's annotations have been transcribed in their original form. Known acronyms are described. See below for more information about Ian Urquhart.
Reel 20 Annotations
Land Dayak countryside and crushing sugar cane with a log. June, 1962.
Ian going downhill from Kampung Tabak.
In hazy weather view of Kekas or Kambug and Sapit saddle from Bukit Aki.
John Chin and Ali climbing up to top of Sito Mountain.
View of Sibekan (Braang) Mountain.
About Ian Urquhart
Ian Urquhart was a decorated British soldier, posted to Sarawak, where he served from 1947 to 1965. A brilliant linguist with an abiding interest in learning about other people and their cultures, he was a natural fit to be a civil service officer.
In addition to his administrative duties, he studied the indigenous communities he encountered focusing on their varied languages. From 1951 to 1959, Ian published several articles published by the Sarawak Museum Journal.
It was during this period that he conducted many trips into the jungles of Sarawak, in particular the Kelabit highlands and the Ulu Baram. From 1957 his wife Bunty accompanied him and contributed to some of the filming.
It was these trips that he documented on Silent Standard/Regular 8mm colour and b/w cinefilm leaving his family and the people of Sarawak with not only a detailed account of his life there, he annotated all 30 reels, 23 of which are available in this collection.
Camera - Ian and Bunty Urquhart.
Restoration and digitization - R3store, London
Archive research and production - Andrew Garton in collaboration with Alexa Young, Neil Urquhart and Murdo Urquhart